What Happens to My Junk Car When I Trade It In to a Junkyard for Recycling?

Have you ever wondered what happens to your old car once you sell it to a junkyard for recycling? If you have, read below to learn about what happens to recycled cars:

Recycling the plastics from your car:

Around 41 percent of plastics on a car are in the form of polyproplylene (PP). This material is most often found in the car’s bumper, dashboard and fender lines. Once broken down into a usable form, the plastics from your car will find its way into a variety of new products, which are simply too numerous to list.

Recycling the metals from your car:According to the Environmental Protection Agency, recycling metal requires around 74 percent less energy than creating new steel. Furthermore, all the steel produced today contains approximately 25 percent recycled steel. To sum it up, salvaging metal from cars and other sources in a huge industry.

Scrap metal pieces can be used to make many products such as pens, plaques, paperweights, and some metal even goes back into making new vehicles. In addition, many metal building companies are also utilizing scrap metal in the creation of their carports, cabinets, garages and metal buildings, due to the fact that these companies have found it to be more cost effective to use recycled metal in their products instead of having to process the raw material.

Recycling the tires from you car:

If the tires on your car are no longer safe to use for their intended purpose, they can be recycled to create a wide range of products. For example, recycled tires can be granulated then used in playgrounds, basketball courts, roof tile, carpet underlay and tennis shoes. Even fuels, such as oil and gas, can be created after thermally breaking down a tire.

Recycling the battery from your car:Car batteries are currently the most recycled product in America, this according to the Battery Council International, and an amazing 99 percent of a battery can be recycled. This is an astounding number when you consider that only 48 percent of paper and 44 percent of aluminum cans can be recycled.

When a battery is recycled, it is broken down into pieces. First, any plastic that can be recycled it taken off the battery. The acid within the battery is then treated with a neutralizing solution that ultimately converts the sulfuric acid to sodium sulfate, or acid salt. After this process is completed, the acid in the battery is no longer toxic to the environment.

The last step in recycling a battery is dealing with the heavy metals in the battery. The metal pieces are usually melted together. Eventually, reusable pieces of metal are sold for various uses, some may even go back to battery manufacturers to be used to construct new batteries.

The health of the automotive recycling industry:According to the Automotive Recyclers Association, the annual revenue for the automotive recycling industry is estimated to be $22 billion. In addition, the steel produced from recycling, provides enough steel to construct around 13 million new vehicles. Therefore, it is clear that the industry is thriving, which is a good thing for both the environment and for those who choose to recycle their vehicles.

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